Image Maps vs. Normal Images

[MarkLoud]

Hey Mozzer's, quick question:

Does anyone out there have any opinions / research on whether the use of image maps is an effective way of linking to other pages on a site as opposed to using seperate images?

Does Google read alternate text from an image map in the same way as a regular image?

[RyanPurkey]

Image maps present links in a very standardized way that the search engines definitely index so it's more of a question of how you want your information presented in results. If I'm presenting a cluster of results for a barbershop search in a local area with an image map, I wouldn't want that broken up until it got to the individual page for a specific location, as one example.

As for the alternate text tag, it's the same "alt" so it'll be read the same way.  A good practice for usability, regardless.